Bulkhead



B. B. CRANE.

BULKHEAD.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, I916. RENEWED MAY 31,1919. ,3 Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

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BULKHEAD.

APPLICATION Fl-LED JAN. 25, I916. RENEWED MAY 31,1919.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

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BULKHEAD.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, I916- RENEWED MAY 31, 1919. 1,336,892. Patented Apr. 13,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

42 55 21 5 '1 l o o 22' 2 1L Z 7 14 W W nonwns BERT B. CRANE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

BULKHEAD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

Application filed January 25, 1916, Serial No. 74,105. Renewed May 31, 1919. Serial No. 301,120.

new and useful Improvements in Bulk-v heads; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description" of the same, reference being had to the ac-- companying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

My invention relates to bulkheads and more particularly to those adaptable for use in railway cars of the type designed for shipping produce of various kinds. One of the objects of the invention is to provide bulkheads which may be readily placed at opposite sides of a car door transversely of the car or across the door openings and in position to support various kinds of produce carried in the body of the car. A further object of the invention is to preferably construct the bulkheads in sections hinged one upon the other and to provide means for shifting the ends of either section into and out of engagement with the side walls of the car in applying or removing the sections as the case may be and for making it possible to pivotally and slidingly move the lower section upon the upper or vice versa, whereby to facilitate the unloading of the car. A fur ther object of the invention is to provide means for effectively bracing the bulkheads with an adjustable brace extending preferably from one bulkhead to the other, the brace being adjustable to suit different widths of door openings for different types of cars. To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view illustrating one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view showing the manner of bracing the bulkhead members when in position at opposite sides of the center of the car;

Fig. 3 is afront view showing the ends of the top section moved out of engagement with the supporting guides on the sides of the car;

Fig. 4 is a similar view with the ends of the bottom section disengaged from the supporting guides;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line aa of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail View 'illustrating the manner of hinging the top section of the bulkhead upon the bottom sec tion; 1

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail section through the bulkhead slats showing a side view of the hinge mechanism illustrated in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a similar view with the bulkhead sections folded one upon the other;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken longitudinally of a portion of a brace shown in Fig. 2, and

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 7)b of Fig. 9.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

In the present embodiment of my invention I provide upper and lower bulkhead sections indicated generally at 10 and 11, each of which is adapted to be braced by the adjustable struts 12 as shown in Figs. 2 and 5. The main or body portions of the sections 10 and 11 are similarly constructed, each comprising front and back frames formed of slats 13 and 14; respectively, which are secured between cleats 15 and 16 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there being upper and lower cleats to correspond respectively to the upper and lower sections. The outer ends of the slats of each of the sections are preferably secured between front and back cleats 17 and 18 respectively, which form a part of the frames and which are held between guide stops 19 secured to the side of the car as clearly. shown in Fig. 2. The inner ends of the slats stop considerably short of the opposite side of the car and at a point between the cleats 15 and 16 the opposite slats are provided with slots 20. Bolts 21 are adapted to extend through the slats 14 and 15 and the cleats 15 and 16 and are secured by screw threaded handles 22 adapted for clamping the frames together, the bolts as will be understood, passing through the slots 20 in one set of slats at each of the points where the cleats are mounted and being held rigid in the opposite slats at said points. Mounted upon the faces of the front cleats of the lower section 11 as shown in Fig. 1, are hinge sections 23 having outstanding loop portions 24 upon which are pivot-ally and slidably mounted coiiperatmg hinge sections 25 as clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

The hinge sections are secured upon the cleats by means of suitable bolts 26. Through each of the hinge sections one of the clamping bolts 21 is adapted to pass, the handles 22 in these cases being seated upon the hinge sections in the manner shown in Fig. 6. Upon the front face and at the center of the sections as shown in Fig. 1 is provided a locking and bracing member 27 for the slats, which carries a slot 28, through which is positioned a clamping bolt 29 provided with a screw threaded handle30 for clamping the brace in position upon the sections. The bolt 29 also passes through a slot 31 in one of the front slats-so that by loosening the bolt the locking and bracing member may be slidably and pivotally moved upon the bolt to the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4,

when it is desired to pivotally or slidiiigly move one of the sections upon the other. Preferably mounted upon the lower slat of the bottom section is a securing bracket 32 for the lower end of the brace 27 when the latter is in looking and bracing position as shown in Fig. l. The bracket 32 is movably mounted upon the lower slat by means of clamping bolts 33 adjustable in slots 34 formed in the slat, so that by loosening the bolts the bracket may be free to slide to allow for the sliding of the brace. Upon the lower section 11 and preferably upon the middle slats of the section are positioned operating levers 35 pivoted at 36 to the outstanding arms 37 of the brackets 38 secured upon the slats. The levers are provided with lower arms 39 and upper arms 40 ofi'set outwardly as indicated at 41 in Fig. 2. The upper arms are adapted to be grasped by the operator and moved inwardly toward the center of the car while at the same time the lower arms engage the front stops 19 and the lower sections are thereby moved to the positions shown in Fig. 4, the upper section remainin stationary, during which operation the hinge portion 24 slides upon the hinge section 25. With the lower section 11 in this position it is free to be pivotally moved upwardly to be folded upon the upper section whereby the contents of the car may be removed from beneath the upper section. In this way only a limited amount of the produce is released at one time, which if in the nature of vegetables loosely carried,

in the car may be scooped up or otherwise removed. While I have only shown the lever mechanism mounted upon the lower section 11, it will be understood that the same isreadily adaptable to the upper section as well, should it be found desirable to apply it to this section. However, the upper section is both slidably and pivotally mounted upon the lower and when moved to the position shown in Fig. 3 is free to swing down to the position shown in Fig.8.

The outward pressure of the produce against the upper sections will necessarily not be as great as upon the lower, andfor this reason it is thought that these sections may readily be moved out of engagement with the supports 19 without the use of the levers. In some instances it may be necessary to use only one of the sections and in such cases the top can readily be dispensed with by removing the bolts which secure the hinge portions 25.

The bulkhead braces 12 comprise preferably upper and lower channels 42 and 43 respectively between which are positioned the spaced struts 44 and 45 as shown in Fi 5. The outer ends of the struts 44 and 45 are adapted to engage the braces 27 as shown in Fig. 2, and are held against displacement by extensions 46 engaging opposite sides of the braces and resting upon the slats of the bulkheads as shown, the latter serving to prevent the dropping of the braces before pressure is applied upon the bulkheads by the produce at the backs thereof. The strut 45 is adjustably mounted between the channels 42 and 43 whereby the bulkheads may be positioned at varying distances apart to suit the difference in width of doors of different cars. To this end the channels 42 and 43 are provided with cen-- tral openings 47 extending substantially the full lengthof the channels as shown in Fig. 2. The channels are provided with a series of notches or corrugations 48 upon each side of the opening 47 as shown in Figs. 2 and 9. -Clamping bolts 49 are adapted to extend through the openings in the channels and through holes 50 in the struts 45 and are provided with upper and lower corrugated or notched washers 51 and 52 respectively which engage the channels in the notches 48, the washers being clamped upon the channels by means of the screw threaded handles 53. In this way, upon loosening the handles the strut 45 may be moved in either direction according to whether it is desired to increase or decrease the distance between the bulkheads. An additional hole 54 is provided in the strut 45 to which one of the clamping bolts 49 may be moved it it is desired to greatly increase the distance between-the bulkheads over that shown in Fig. 2. The channels 42 and 43 are preferably rigidly secured to the short strut 44 by means of suitable bolts 55. The bulkheads are also adjustable for cars having diflerent widths, by means of the sliding action of the ends of the sections one upon the other as previously described. Although I have shown only two sections for each bulkhead it will be readily understood that a greater number of sections may be .its use to this particular purpose as the invention is readily adaptable for other usages and in connection with structures other than railway cars.

I claim as my invention:

1. A bulkhead for cars comprisinga plurality of sections pivotally and slidably mounted one upon the other, and means for bracing the sections intermediate their ends.

2. A bulkhead for cars comprising a plurality of sections pivotally and slidably mounted one upon the other and means'for locking the sections against pivotal movement.

3. A bulkhead for cars comprising a plurality of sections pivotally and slidably mounted one upon the other, and means carried by the sections adapted to lock the same one relatively to the other.

4:. A bulkhead for 'cars comprising a plurality of sections pivotally and slidably mounted one upon the other, each' of the sections com rising frames having overlapping adjusta 1y connected ends.

5. A bulkhead for cars comprising frames having overlapping adjustably connected ends, and an adjustable brace for the sections intermediate their ends.

6. In combination, spaced side walls, a bulkhead comprising frames having overlapping adj ustably connected ends, the outer ends of the frames normally engaging the side walls, and means carried by the frames adapted to be operated to engage the side walls to move the frames out of engagement therewith.

7. In combination, spaced side walls, a pair of spaced bulkheads each comprising frames having overlapping adjustabl connected ends, the outer ends of the ames normally engaging the side walls, and a brace between the bulkheads adjustable to space the latter at relatively different distances apart upon the side walls.

BERT B. CRANE.

\Vitnesses VICTOR A. CLAPP, FRANK H. STEDHAN. 

